Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a subtype of lung cancer with poor prognosis. In this study, we aimed to build a nomogram to predict the survival of individual with SCLC by incorporating significant clinical parameters.Methods: The patients with SCLC were enrolled from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (GMUFAH) between 2009 and 2013. We identified and incorporated the independent prognostic factors to build a nomogram to predict the survival of SCLC patients. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability of the nomogram were evaluated by concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve. We also compared the accuracy of the built model with the 7 AJCC TNM and VALSG staging system. The nomogram was further validated in an independent cohort of 80 patients with SCLC from Cancer Center of Guangzhou Medical University (GMUCC) between 2009 and 2013.Results: A total of 275 patients with SCLC were included in the primary cohort, and seven independent prognostic factors were identified including age, N stage, metastasis status, histology, platelets to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neuron specific enolase (NSE) and CYFRA21-1 as independent prognostic factors after using Cox regression model. A nomogram incorporating these prognostic factors was subsequently built. The calibration curves for possibilities of 1-, 2-year overall survival (OS) revealed optimal agreement between nomogram prediction and actual observation. The C-index of this nomogram was higher than that of TNM and VALSG staging system in both primary and validation cohort (nomogram TNM, primary cohort 0.68 0.65, P